#god forbid sam suffer more than jesus :/

[seasononesam]

okieeee this is like silly OKAY it’s literally sammysunday so I’ll share: I went to the doctor weeks ago and had to get blood drawn. I’m scared of needles so when the lady was doing it, I started to cry, straight up sob because wahhhh. ANYWAYS she started to pray over me which is fine like it was nice and I found it comforting until she started talking about how Jesus had suffered a lot more than me and I was reminded of one of your tags that said “sam winchester suffered more than Jesus” and I was sitting there with this lady’s eyes closed heavily praying and me trying soooo hard not to crack a smirk from remembering that….your impact

PLEASE...well did I lie???

[awed-frog]

Holy crap, I just realized that Cas it's literally Jesus

But, like, seriously -

This ask is the best of everything, because I’m assuming you know (now) that this is a common reading of Cas but yeah, that moment when you figure it out on your own is worth all the metas in the world. Like, I remember when I wasn’t on tumblr and would only check a few blogs occasionally and one day I noticed something about Dean being bi and sent an anonymous ask to one of these people all excited and bushy-tailed and feeling like the world was now mine, and this person was like, Yeah, thanks, we discussed that for nine weeks two years ago - here’s a list of metas.

(And yet, tumblr is also is dark mass of forgotten things, because I looked everywhere for ‘Cas is actually Jesus’ metas and couldn’t find any to link you. Aaaaargh.)

That said, I sometimes wonder when this ‘Cas as Jesus’ parallel was decided and how serious they are about it, because that story doesn’t exactly have a happy ending, now, does it? And what also doesn’t help is the conflation of Jesus as a (probably) historical person with have glimpses of through the Gospels, Jesus as this theological and very nearly incomprehensible concept and Jesus as dragon-riding hero - a character reimagined and recreated by Evangelists and later Christians. Like, which one is Cas more like, and why?

The thing is, I have a feeling they got carried away with the narratively pleasing idea that Cas should die for ‘humanity’, and this played in nicely with that whole ‘humanity’ subtext as well, and very nearly in a #no homo sort of way, which is why they milked and milked this Jesus n. 2 comparison. Only, well, the one way to make it truly work would have been killing Cas at the end of S10 - and I’m still convinced that was the plan (think ‘Cas is Dean’s Colette’ and whatever). The problem there, of course, was that if they’d truly killed Cas, it wouldn’t have been a good thing for the show, and if they’d sort of killed Cas (and by that I mean, actually gone through with what clearly was the original plan: have Cas give up his Grace to save Dean) they would have had a much bigger problem on their hands - what the hell would they do with human!Cas? No way Dean would have allowed him to wander off or - God forbid - hunt on his own. It’s hardly believable he does that now, to be honest. But having Cas around Dean full time - that wasn’t possible either (for the usual reasons). So, well - Jesus n. 2 thingy is out, and Jesus n. 3 is redundant, because that’s the myth arc of the Hero, and any given season’s got either Sam or Dean taking care of that. What is left is Jesus n. 1, and I’m sure this was accidental and all, but one of the reasons I enjoy Cas’ journey so much is because this kind of Jesus arc is both well known from a variety of religions around the world and difficult to find in such an overt way in fiction. Because this is a man (or, in Cas’ case, an angel) who has faith and wants to have faith, but also someone who has doubts, and someone who’s conflicted and ashamed about those doubts. He’s also someone who is, at some point or another, full of rage, which, again, is a rare feeling to find in a ‘positive’ character, and we tend to forget or hide that Jesus was a pretty angry guy, on the whole. And, sure, in Jesus’ case, that story ends with martyrdom, but I’m not sure that was ever the plan, and, most of all, this ‘humanity’ right here will hardly allow that to happen on his watch.

Uhm, I just reread all that and realized it probably makes more sense inside my head than written down. Sorry for the mess - I thought I had something relevant to say about Jesus and Lord Raglan and whatever, and instead I’m just thinking out loud. In a way, I find it difficult to write a coherent Cas meta because this is a character that moves beyond the wishes of his creators, both in a positive sense (like Cas surviving and taking Anna’s place) and in a negative sense (there are a lot of inconsistencies there, and most of them have to do with RL issues and #no homo nonsense). But the tl;dr version is - yes, sure, Cas has been coded as Jesus figure for a while now - he’s this unholy, and yet most holy, mixture of divine and human traits, and everything he is and does is about love, and all his suffering are caused by his profound wish to redeem ‘humanity’. 

And, they’re still not done with it, which makes me a bit nervous.

(’Humanity’ should definitely be a bit more grateful for all that. I’d say, let’s start with dinner and a movie and take it from there.)

[iamkellyadams]

Over 40 mom, sheds 40 pounds without dieting or pills!

Below is an inspiring story narrated to us, which would relate to many of those who are over 40 and want to lose weight but have no idea where to begin. Let’s read how this mom from Idaho, US lost more than 40 pounds without restrictive dieting or taking any dangerous weight loss pills. She also reveals her secret, which led her to this amazing transformation.

Introducing Susan Tanner, from Idaho, US

Hi, my name is Susan. And I’m 43 years young!

I’d like to share a personal story that I know will resonate with you…

I was always one of the cool girls in school. I was a regular in a cheerleading squad and was homecoming queen my senior year.

What’s more, I was one of those ‘skinny’ girls you love to hate. I ate anything and everything I wanted and still kept to a size 2 without much effort. Even though I was pretty active girl, but exercising was never a priority on my daily agenda.

I used to chalk up my slimming figure to genetics.

I married right after finishing my college. Me and Tyler backpacked through Europe for a year and then settled in Idaho with decent full-time jobs. About 3 years into our marriage, I gave birth to our first child – Aiden.

And that’s when everything went downhill.

I was far from skinny,  and gained 60 pounds while pregnant with Aiden. But I told to myself, its natural to put on weight while pregnancy. And I was not worried, and always believed I will return back to my normal self few months post delivery.

But then brutal realty hit me, and no matter what I did after giving birth, I had not been able to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Heck I was no where near, and kept on piling pounds after pounds.

As time went on, the busier I got. We had a second child and between juggling two children and a full time job, there was no time eat properly or even exercise. And the heavier I got.

It wasn’t long until I started wearing clothes that ranged from size 12 to 16.

I no longer felt confident or sexy. I had very little energy to do anything besides look after the kids and my job.

I was so upset about my body, I started avoiding being intimate with my husband. I feared that he would be turned off by the unsightly jiggles all over my body.

I decided to make a change in my life, and go all the way to lose my excess weight and finally feel sexy again. It was also not about my body image, I knew if I did not do anything about my bulging belly I may get very sick and that thought was scary. I feared not for myself, I feared if god forbid something happens to me then what who will take care of my family my kids, my husband. For months I tried and tried, and I did everything the mainstream media ever advised to lose weight.

At times of desperation, I turned to countless fad diets — where I:

Ate food that tasted like cardboard

Choked down diet pills that made my heart race

Suffered through gut wrenching workouts

Even starved myself, desperate to lose the weight

Each and every time I would stop dieting for only a few days only to have the weight pile back on with a vengeance.

I had no idea what was going on with my body. I finally gave in and convinced myself that I was just getting older and this was the body that came with age.

…until a visit to the emergency room early one morning turned my life upside down.

It was a Friday night.

I woke up shortly after falling asleep, with crushing chest pains and heavy breathing. I thought they were just from the Mexican food we ate that night. So, I took a couple of tums and sat up for what I thought was heartburn to subside.

But the pain did not go away. My left arm started tingling. I woke Tyler up and told him what I was feeling. It didn’t take Tyler long to respond:

“Baby, you might be having a heart attack. We need to go to the emergency room right now”, he said while already putting his pants on.

I broke into a cold sweat a few minutes later and I started to believe Tyler was right.

On the way to the hospital, I couldn’t help but think about the situation I was in. I was only 40 years old and here I was having a heart attack. I kept thinking about how Tyler could be all alone to take care of two young children.

That night at the ER, after several hours and tests, the doctors confirmed that I had a mild heart attack—they told me that based on my test results and current condition, I was very fortunate that it was not an even bigger one.

You see, l knew I was heavy and probably a bit overweight but little did I know that the doctors diagnosed me as clinically obese. Even worse, my ‘obesity’ had brought on cardiovascular damage.

The words that came out from the doctor that night remain vividly in my mind to this day:

“Susan, if you don’t drop at least 40 pounds, I’m not sure you can make it to your next birthday”, he began.

“Your arteries are hardening, your BMI is over 30 and your cholesterol levels are through the roof! You’re only 40 years old but you have a body and a heart of an 80 year old woman”, he continued.

I lost focus for a moment and asked myself rhetorically, “How did I get myself into this? I didn’t even finish eating that double chocolate cake at dinner!”

Everything had happened so fast that I didn’t even think twice about the ultra unhealthy lifestyle I had led the last few years—and the excess weight that came with it.

I really thought I was just getting older.

“You’re also showing signs of Type 2 Diabetes and I’m afraid to say that even weight loss surgery would be dangerous for you at this point”, the doctor continued with the bad news.

At that exact moment, I felt helpless and completely defeated. There was no way I could drop 40 pounds. Even with the fad diets, I had only managed to lose at most 10 pounds. But even then the weight always came back, with more weight.

I was released from the hospital the next day. When I got home, all I could do was to just sit and cry.

I did not know what I was going to do. Tyler and I had so many things planned for our future – our trip to Europe that summer, our plans to start our own catering business.

I even questioned whether I would be around to see my children’s next birthday.

I was sobbing uncontrollably when I felt a hand on my shoulder – it was my son Aiden. He had watched me cry the entire time. He put his arms around me and offered his assurance the only way he knew how:

“It’s going to be okay, mommy. Jesus will take care of you”, he said while holding back his tears.

At that moment, I felt guilty for letting this happen to me all these years. I knew I wanted to be there to see my son and daughter graduate from school, get married and see my grandchildren. I knew I had to do something but did not know what.

You know, I’m not a very religious person—I do go to church on almost every Sunday, but hearing Aiden speak about Jesus that evening compelled me to seek higher help at our church the very next day.

…and that’s where this sad story with certainty of a doomed ending would turn around.

That morning at church, I met Kyle Cooper, a retired United States Marine Sergeant, who would eventually be the one that saved my life.

Unbeknownst to me at that time, Kyle was at church on his way to speak to our pastor, when he saw me sobbing uncontrollably. Being the big hearted, caring person he is, he came up to me.

“Hello. What’s wrong?”, Kyle offered.

I stared blankly at Kyle, and for a moment, I wanted to tell him to get lost. But when I saw him in his marine uniform, everything came pouring out:

“My doctor told me that I’m going to die, real soon, if I don’t lose 40 pounds quickly. My cholesterol level is high, my blood pressure is high, my arteries are clogged and my body’s already showing signs of Type 2 Diabetes. I have to lose weight yesterday!”

I continued to tell him about how I had tried every fad diet and did every gut wrenching workout but none of them had helped me lose any weight—nothing worked!

I started crying again and let out softly, “I don’t want to die this young. I want to see my children grow up. I want to travel the world with Tyler”.

Kyle looked at me for a few seconds, smiled and put his hand on my shoulder,

“I’m Gunnery Marine Sergeant Kyle Cooper. I just got back from Afghanistan where I’ve been fighting and training soldiers for the last six months. I have helped over 200 middle aged reserve soldiers transform their overweight bodies and recapture their youthful health. If you’re willing to try, I’d like to work with you too”, he said with a very convincing face.

I looked at Kyle with disbelief and sarcastically and angrily retorted,

“What does a Marine Sergeant know about weight loss? Isn’t it a requirement for one not to be overweight in order to get into the marines? Are you kidding me? Please, just leave me alone!”

Kyle continued to smile and did not seem to be one bit affected by my rudeness.

For the next 15 minutes, Kyle proceeded to tell me everything he had discovered in the last six months— about how a disastrous mission in the mountains of Afghanistan led him to Sam Pak, a Korean medical student who would share with him an amazing weight loss discovery that have kept regular people in Asia with youthful energy and healthy bodies.

I sat in silence, mouth agape, in a trance, listening to every word…

He continued to tell me that he’d spent the last few weeks intensely planning on how to bring Sam’s remarkable weight loss method to the world.

The biggest revelation from Sam’s method was that women in their 30s, 40s and even 60s don’t lose weight and are storing fat because of metabolic acidosis. Metabolic acidosis occurs when your kidneys can’t get rid of food acid properly. It makes your body store fat and throws your fat burning cycles out of whack.

No matter how much you work yourself to death in the gym or restrict your diets as much as you want, metabolic acidosis makes absolutely certain you never lose an ounce of fat.

He continued to explain metabolic acidosis might very well be the main reason why I haven’t been able to lose any weight.

Kyle passed me a folder with 21 pages of Sam’s notes. Those notes outlined a fat loss program that tells you exactly what food to eat and when to eat each food.

I was still very skeptical, especially when the notes included eating foods that I thought were not ok on a diet, and excluded foods that I thought was ok on a diet.

But I owed it to Tyler and my children to at least give this program a try—I had nothing to lose but everything to gain.

I apologized to Kyle for my rude behavior and thanked him for coming up to me in my neediest of time and for sharing with me Sam’s program.

The next morning, I jumped out of bed like a girl on a mission. I headed to the grocery store and purchased every food listed in Kyle’s notes.

I remembered thinking “This seems a bit too easy, will this ever work?”

But I was desperate and ready to try anything.

Plus, Kyle obviously knows that Sam’s program works for fat loss since he had used it to transform the bodies and health of over two hundred overweight reserve marines, just a year earlier.

I immediately began eating the foods Kyle’s notes had outlined and followed the other surprisingly simple steps laid out.

Since I followed Sam’s notes, here are the SHOCKING results I experienced that I will always consider a true miracle:

My weight dropped like a rock from 216 lbs to 175 lbs in just 21 days. I no longer had to worry about my blood pressure or cholesterol levels. I’m happy to say that I have not had another heart attack!

I have since lost an additional 32 lbs (73 pounds total)! This was over the course of just one year. It was far easier than I expected, I never once felt hungry and I’ve not gained back any of the weight since.

I just had my 43rd birthday and, I feel as healthy and energetic as I did in my 20’s. Keeping up with children while juggling our business would have been impossible for me at my previous weight and condition!

My extreme fatigue and dramatic mood swings have disappeared and my creativity and “zest for life” have come roaring back just in time for our family’s trip to Italy this summer. And Tyler and I are having great sex (and lots of it) again. I truly couldn’t feel happier.

Since then, something else amazing has happened and it’s the main reason I’m sitting at my desk writing this letter now.

Kyle is an amazing person who is not only brilliant but also a natural teacher with a big heart. Our lives had been changed so much by Sam’s weight loss method that we encouraged Kyle to share that method with women everywhere.

Kyle has since retired from the marines, formed a weight loss program on the back of Sam’s notes and made it his mission in life to share this healthy weight loss program with women all across the world.

If you’re a woman who has struggled with weight loss, you owe it to yourself to watch Kyle’s presentation which you can find right here.

Turn up your speakers and click the play button to watch now.

Click here to watch the video

I really hope it has the same impact on you as it did on me. Because the information you’re about to learn has literally saved my life.

The post Over 40 mom, sheds 40 pounds without dieting or pills! appeared first on Get Health Remedies.

[consciousowl]

Would You Die For Me?

I’m not your lover

I’m not your friend

I am something that you’ll never comprehend

No need to worry

No need to cry

I’m your messiah and you’re the reason why

‘Cause you, I would die for you, yea

Darling if you want me to

Prince, “I Would Die 4 U”

Have you ever fallen so totally in love with someone that to be without her is death, and to be with her life eternal? You cherish the ground she walks upon. Night and day, you think only of her. You would do anything for her… you would even die for her!

This is what every woman wants to hear from her man, like Juliet for her Romeo. Yes, you would truly die for her, but what about the world?​

How Prince Electrified the World

In 1984, Prince Roger Nelson stunned America as he introduced a breathtaking new form of fusion. The son of two jazz musicians out of Minneapolis, Prince captured our imagination with his movie and soundtrack, “Purple Rain.” It broke all records, selling 13 million albums, with the film grossing $68 million. At one time, Prince had America’s No. 1 single, No. 1 album and No. 1 film.

Prince was already a master musician, playing dozens of instruments. His passion outshone both Michael Jackson and Madonna, his principal rivals. He threatened to relegate them to the sidelines. Prince radiated intense sex appeal and an indefinable spirituality at one and the same time. He introduced the Gospel in an idiom to which people of any persuasion could profoundly resonate.​

While Prince initially flaunted his sexuality, he spoke at a much deeper, archetypal level. The year 1984 was the height of the Cold War, and it didn’t look like we would make it. Even the very year “1984” was ominous, as the title of George Orwell’s dystopian novel. Prince chanted “1999,” affirming he would celebrate in the face of devastation and ruin. He pointed to a self-sacrificing love. He would, like the Messiah, “Die for you.”

How could I possibly die for someone else? Prince forced us to ask that question.​

The Lifeboat Exercise

You may remember back in school taking a humanities class dealing with values clarification. If so, you very likely got to play the most intriguing forced-choice quiz you are ever likely to encounter. Let’s say you have just bailed out from the Titanic, and there are 11 people in your boat, with only room for 10. Which one shall the group throw overboard to sink into the oceanic abyss?

This exercise can inspire the most vigorous discussions, especially when it dawns upon the participants that they have no choice. One of them has to go.

Should we save a Nobel Prize recipient and humanitarian, like Muhammad Yunus? A gorgeous, accomplished starlet, like Jennifer Lawrence? A young and promising world leader, such as France’s President Emmanuel Macron? Or a freaky but brilliant Terrence McKenna?

With any hope, the lifeboat game forces you to the realization that every human life is precious, if not sacred.

What Would Make You Actually Die for Someone Else?

Many people feel that they have only one life, and that they should give it all they’ve got. Why throw it away for anyone else, husband, wife, lover, mother or father? Just think of Uncle Sam in stripes pointing, “I want you!” In the Vietnam era, the preferred response was, “Hell no! We won’t go!”

However, there may be at least one person, and possibly more than one, who, were they gone, you would feel life wasn’t worth living. Perhaps you are supremely grateful to him or her, mother or father. Perhaps your man is the only person in the world who truly understands you. Perhaps your woman is the only person who could possibly make you happy.​

Mothers and fathers would feel this way toward a son or daughter who loves them, depends upon them and has a full life ahead. You can already see it: he has built into him everything you dreamed for yourself. You’ve lived a full life up to this point, “Sure, I’ll give my life for my kids.”

Are You Ready to Meet Your Maker?

The great 20th Century evangelist, Billy Graham, used to ask his audiences before the alter call, “Are you ready to meet God?” Billy started out with fire and brimstone, but in his later years chose to emphasize an eternity without Christ, the very man who died for them. Dozens of people with tears in their eyes would make their way to the center of the stadium.

Billy had a point. Most of us in America feel that there is something after this life, whether in a vague spirit world, a glorious eternity in heaven (which has been suggested by such skeptics-turned-believers as Dr. Eben Alexander), or, God forbid, endless suffering for making other lives miserable.

It is interesting to observe people, either during the holiday season, or after a major disaster, such as an 8.6 earthquake. People are much nicer, more human and compassionate than you ever imagined. You might say that they are on their best behavior for Christmas. I choose to believe that they are in touch with what truly matters, and their have-it-together attitude is just a facade.​

A Salute to the Men and Women in Uniform

Think of the millions of men and women around the globe under every possible flag, serving in the armed forces, as well as in the police or fire departments. These people routinely place themselves in the line of fire. No matter what your political convictions, or your sentiments about wars and military actions that are so often unwarranted and even pointless; we must deeply admire their courage.

These people are willing to die, not only for their loved ones, but also for a much larger sphere of concern. They are willing to risk their lives to protect you. Should they die in the process, as did many of the firemen in the Twin Towers, their widows and children might be left to fend for themselves, on the edge of poverty.​

Many of these men and women, beyond the elusive glory of patriotism, find a profound sense of fulfillment in serving their country, protecting what they believe in and giving back all that has been given to them. As Jesus Christ put it, “He that seeks to save his life shall lose it, and he that loses his life for My sake shall save it.” We can’t be fulfilled on the highest level until we live for something much greater than ourselves.

Die for You? YES. Kill for You? NO.

Since the 2000’s, Americans have been acutely aware of the Islamic doctrine of “Jihad,” which actually means struggle, not murder. Mohammad counseled the early Muslims that the “Greater Jihad” is an internal battle with one’s own darker impulses. War and violence, for Mohammad, were the “Lesser Jihad.” Nothing to brag about. However, a few Islamic countries, have recently appropriated Jihad to justify all kinds of questionable, and downward dastardly acts.

When I was in high school, I had a brilliant Jewish-Christian history teacher who kept asking his students, “Is violence ever justified?” That was in an era when America was fighting a futile war that lost the confidence of its youth. I have given much thought to this. If one were to take the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount to heart, we never have a license to kill. After seeing Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi, I actually saw how we need not resort to violence.

We are now at a turning point where can choose NOT to kill, no matter what societal influences are brought to bear. True, you could face punishment for not bearing arms. It is also true that if whole groups of people, such as the nation of Costa Rico, which has no standing army, renounce standard notions of defense, the price might be great. They will certainly have it no easier than did Gandhi, and perhaps much harder.​

Would You Die for Even Your Enemy?

Supreme love is to, not only forgive your enemies and refuse to defend yourself against them, but to actually die for them, to wake them up, if you will. This was, of course, perfectly illustrated by Jesus of Nazareth on the cross when the Pharisees mocked him, and Christ prayed, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Some time ago, on the island of Hawaii, a despairing teenager went up to its highest peak, and was about to jump beyond the guardrail. A couple of cops following him, slammed on the brakes. One of them ran from the car and grabbed the boy’s legs as he took the plunge. His partner grabbed him, as the cop himself was clearly about to go with the boy off the cliff. This created quite a sensation and was written up in the local papers. The cop was interviewed as to why he held on to the boy, when he was about to lose everything. He said, “If I had let go of that boy, I couldn’t have lived with myself another day.”

The great mythologist, Joseph Campbell, who recounted this story, related the insight of the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. When we give our lives for someone else, maybe someone we don’t even know, we do so because we realize in a metaphysical burst of insight that we and that other person are ONE.​

I Would LIVE for You!

Today, most of us are not called to DIE for someone else. However, we are most definitely called to LIVE for other people, to be the light of the world, to reduce their suffering and give them joy. In an ironic sort of way, it easier to die for your wife and children than to live for them. One glorious act of selflessness and you are done. To live for your family and friends requires moment-by-moment giving.

While Prince died alone in an elevator in Paisley Park, he left behind millions whose lives he touched. Right to the end, he pushed himself with a broken hip taking constant medication. Prince entertained people while being sober himself. He kept living in the moment, opening up the envelope in musical and artistic innovation. As an ultracool Jehovah’s Witness, Prince had total confidence he would be well-taken-care-of at the other end.

We can choose to live, not only for those closest to us, but also for our Mother, Planet Earth. We can choose to look into the eyes of everyone we meet and see a uniquely precious soul. Living this way is as great as dying that way. If we love enough people with that kind of love, we may succeed in saving this Planet, as well ourselves.​

Would You Die For Me? appeared first on http://consciousowl.com.